“Rara avis in terra”: One of a kind Lizzie Siddal needlepoint

April 3, 2012

Valerie Meachum offers up an intricate, one of a kind needlepoint based on a Dante Gabriel Rossetti portrait of Lizzie Siddal. Available at etsy.com.
The hand-embroidered inscription on the linen border refers to a letter to the artist’s sister, the poet Christina Rossetti, in which he mentions a black silk dress Lizzie had recently made for herself and calls her a “rara avis in terra,” quoting the Satires of the classical Roman poet Juvenal, who wrote of “a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan.”

Stephanie Graham Piña is an independent scholar whose research focuses on Victorian Art, especially the Pre-Raphaelites. In 2004 she created LizzieSiddal.com, a resource for those interested in the life of Pre-Raphaelite model and painter Elizabeth Siddal. She established her website ‘The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood’ in 2007 to highlight the work of women artists associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Circle. Through her popular online publications, she has been a leading advocate of independent research and discourse on Victorian art.